UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

 WASHINGTON, D.C. 

 Issued by the Department of Transportation on June 20, 2011 

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN— Undocketed-Application under 14 CFR Part 215, and 

 DOCKET OST-2010-0232 

This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department official indicated (no 

additional confirming order will be issued in this matter). 

Applicant: Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL), a foreign air carrier of Trinidad & Tobago 

Date Filed: April 21, 2011 

Relief requested: Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) requests to register, under the provisions of 14 CFR 

Part 215, the trade name “Air Jamaica.” CAL stated that the trade name would be used by CAL for certain 

operations involving the United States after Air Jamaica Limited, currently a CAL affiliate, ceases U.S. 

operations on or about June 30, 2011. CAL noted the steps it was undertaking to assure that passengers and 

shippers currently holding Air Jamaica Limited tickets and waybills would receive notice of the change in 

carrier responsible for performing Air Jamaica Limited’s operations. 

Applicant representative: John R. Mietus, Jr., 202-747-5212 DOT Analyst: George Wellington, 202-366-2391 

 

DISPOSITION 

Part 215 application: Pursuant to 14 CFR Part 215 of our rules, we have compared the new name with our list of 

names used by existing certificated, commuter, and foreign air carriers and with those applicants seeking new 

authority. We have completed our review and determined that, in the circumstances presented, no similarly named 

carriers(s) need be served. This notice therefore acknowledges CAL’s registration of the trade name “Air Jamaica” 

under 14 CFR Part 215 and shall constitute the notice thereof under section 215.6 of our regulations. 

Exemption authority held by CAL in Docket DOT-OST-2010-0232: By Notice of Action Taken dated 

February 10, 2011, we granted CAL an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 40109 to the extent necessary to permit it to 

conduct the operations to and from the United States that were being conducted by Air Jamaica Ltd. We found that 

this authority was warranted because, as noted in the record, Air Jamaica intended to cease services, and the 

Government of Jamaica had, under a Transitional Services Agreement, transferred Air Jamaica’s routes to CAL in 

order to facilitate a smooth transition of air services from Air Jamaica to CAL. We also found that CAL’s proposal 

to serve the United States from Jamaica and from New York to Grenada (currently operated by Air Jamaica) would 

facilitate a seamless transition from Air Jamaica to CAL of the former carrier’s services, and would minimize 

disruption to the travel plans of passengers and shippers. 

While we are approving CAL’s request under Part 215 to register the name “Air Jamaica,” we are concerned that 

the use of that name by CAL could cause significant public confusion, as CAL’s holding out of services in that 

name alone could lead consumers to believe that the services were still being operated by the “Air Jamaica” that 

had conducted U.S. operations for many years, and which would be ceasing operations the day before CAL’s 

initiation of services using the “Air Jamaica” name. In addition, CAL would be holding out its services to and from 

its homeland as “Caribbean Airlines” and its services to and from Jamaica as “Air Jamaica,” and we believe that 

this concurrent use of two identities by a single foreign air carrier in proximate markets, with the identity varying 

based on the markets involved, would add to the likelihood of public confusion. 
Under these circumstances, we find that the public interest requires that CAL give consumers notice that “Air 

Jamaica”-branded services conducted after the Air Jamaica-CAL changeover are in fact being operated by CAL of 

Trinidad & Tobago and not by the old “Air Jamaica.” To that end, we hereby amend the exemption authority we 

granted on September 14, 2010, in this Docket, to require that CAL continue its current practice (that it uses in the 

operations it now performs for Air Jamaica by wet lease) of identifying flights offered through its website(s) and in 

global distribution systems as “Air Jamaica / Operated by Caribbean Airlines.”1

 We will also require that, in using 

the “Air Jamaica” name, CAL provide notice of its “Caribbean Airlines” name, in the manner set forth in 14 CFR 

§257.5 of our regulations. 

Action Date: June 20, 2011

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director 

 Office of International Aviation 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under authority assigned by the Department in its regulations, 14 CFR Part 385, we found that (1) our action was 

consistent with Department policy; (2) grant of the authority was consistent with the public interest; and (3) grant of 

the authority would not constitute a major regulatory action under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. 

To the extent not granted/deferred/dismissed, we denied all requests in the referenced Dockets. We may amend, 

modify, or revoke the authority granted in this Notice at any time without hearing at our discretion. 

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of the action set forth in this Notice under the Department’s 

regulations, 14 CFR § 385.30, may file their petitions within seven (7) days after the date of issuance of this Notice. 

This action was effective when taken, and the filing of a petition for review will not alter such effectiveness.

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at: 

http://www.regulations.gov

 

1

 In taking our February 10, 2011 action in the referenced Docket, we specifically reserved the right to amend, modify, or 

revoke the authority granted at any time without hearing at our discretion.